Base Resources gets funds for Kenya titanium project

Base Resources
said on Friday it had secured funds for its Kenyan titanium project and expects to commence operations next month.

The project near the east Africa nation's port city of Mombasa is scheduled to begin in September after lengthy delays due to demonstrations by environmental groups, disputes with farmers over land compensation and talks with the government.

A total of $162.3 million was raised through a cash call announced on August 1, exceeding the minimum target of $152.2 million, the company said in a statement.

Combined with a $170 million credit it already has, Base Resources said it has enough cash for the project.

"With funding in place, Base is well advanced with pre-implementation activities and is working towards formal project commencement in early October. A realistic timetable for development will see production commence in the third quarter of 2013," the company said.

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Base Resources expects the project's annual production of titanium ores to include 330,000 tonnes of ilmenite, or about 10 percent of the world's supply, and 80,000 tonnes of rutile, or 14 per cent of global output.

It also expects 40,000 tonnes of zircon, another type of mineral.

Titanium is an important pigment for industrial, domestic and artistic applications. It is also a choice material for joint replacement, tooth implants and body piercing.

In a quarterly update in July, Base Resources said it had already started negotiating sale contracts for products from the titanium mining project including ilmenite, rutile and zircon.

It expects the new shares issued under the cash call to begin trading on the Australian Securities Exchange on September 20, 2011.